John Mead wins CIPR Public Affairs Parliamentary Researcher of the Year 2012
John Mead, Researcher to Lib Dem MP David Ward, is the CIPR Public Affairs (PA) Parliamentary Researcher of the Year 2012. John, who was presented with the award at the St. Stephen’s Club earlier this evening, was recognised for his work and involvement in the Affordable Car Insurance Campaign that resulted in success both locally and nationally.
It is a real honour to be the first recipient of this award. I feel particularly proud of the work I did on the car insurance campaign and it is fantastic to have my achievements recognised in this way. The rest of the team also worked extremely hard and all of them deserve awards in their own right. Parliament is an amazing place to work and it is a true privilege to be part of the Parliamentary process. It attracts many dedicated and talented people who often don’t get credit for the hard work they do. I think it’s brilliant that the CIPR is taking the trouble to address that through this award. Thank you to them and everyone who supported me.
John’s work behind the scenes has been vital for the success of the Affordable Car Insurance campaign. The depth and breadth of his research, and his efforts to connect the work done in Parliament to the concerns of the local community have been invaluable. It is great to see that he is receiving the recognition that his hard work deserves.
I would very much like to congratulate John on becoming the first winner of the CIPR PA Researcher of the Year Award. He is a very deserved winner. His entry was of the highest calibre and he seems to have had a real achievement around the Affordable Car Insurance campaign. This award process produced some excellent candidates – it was a fierce competition with more than 300 votes cast. All the finalists should be congratulated and should be pleased that the CIPR PA Committee felt they were of such a standard to put them into the final. It is really important that we celebrate the un-sung heroes of Parliament which is why CIPR PA will be awarding this accolade on an annual basis from now on. I hope this award gives John’s already promising career an added boost.
The award includes an iPad, one year’s free membership of the CIPR PA group (to be started at a time of his choosing), and a free one-to-one career consultation with Gavin Ellwood, the main board director of specialist communications and public affairs recruitment agency, Ellwood & Atfield.
Notes to editors
About the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)Founded in 1948, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the Royal Chartered professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK and overseas. The CIPR is the largest membership organisation for PR practitioners outside of North America. By size of turnover and number of individually registered members, we are the leading representative body for the PR profession and industry in Europe.
The CIPR advances professionalism in public relations by making its members accountable to their employers and the public through a code of conduct and searchable public register, setting standards through training, qualifications, awards and the production of best practice and skills guidance, facilitating Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and awarding Chartered Public Relations Practitioner status (Chart.PR).